Criminal psychology Flashcards
Name 5 Types of Crime
- Violent Crime
- Drug-Related Crime
- Acquisitive Crime
- Sexual Crime
- Anti-Social Crime
Describe what the 5 types of crime mean, and give examples for each of them
Violent Crimes - Aggressive crimes resulting in physical harm or death (MURDER)
Drug-Related Crimes - Crimes involving the use or trading of illegal substances (DRUG DEALING)
Acquisitive Crimes - Crimes where capital or belongings are taken (THEFT)
Sexual Crimes - Crimes where a victim is force to commit a sexual act against there freewill (RAPE)
Anti-Social Crimes - Crimes that cause distress/harassment (GRAFFITI)
Social Construct
A concept that exists as the result of interactions between people who make up a society
Why is Crime seen as a SOCIAL CONSTRUCT
Some people believe crime is a social construct because society chooses what is criminal at a particular point in time
Deviation from Social Norms
Act or behaviour goes against the accepted standards of society
Give an example of Deviation from Social Norms
Queue Jumping (Pushing in)
How is Crime Measured
Official Statistics - Tells us which crimes are more common or which crimes increase or decrease. The data is published by the government.
Weaknesses of Official Statistics
- Not all crimes are reported
- Relying on Self-Reports
- People could lie
Self-report
A method that involves participants reporting on themselves through answering questions
2 Types of Role Models
Live (In person) and Symbolic (On TV/Media)
Stages of the Social Learning Theory
Role Models -> Identification -> Observation -> Imitation -> Vicarious Reinforcement -> Direct Reinforcement -> Internalisation
Identification
Process where we align ourself with another
Observation
We pay close attention to the behaviours
Imitation
We copy the role models behaviours
Vicarious Reinforcement
Observing someone else receive a reward or punishment
Direct Reinforcement
Reinforcement given after we successfully complete a task
Internalisation
Becomes an integral part of their personality
How does SLT link to criminal behaviour
We choose a bad role-model -> We observe their behaviour and start to copy it -> We then observe them being rewarded for doing that bad behaviour -> We directly reinforce this and we get the rewards -> The bad behaviour becomes an integral part of my personality
Criticisms of SLT
- SLT only focuses on the role of NURTURE and it completely ignores the role of NATURE
- The theory doesn’t explain the start of the criminal behaviour
- People do not always need a role model to turn to crime (may be their instincts)
- If the SLT is correct then it should be easier to reduce crime
Research Study: COOPER AND MACKIE
Wanted to find out whether videogames led to aggression
Method: Lab Experiment, IMD, IV = Game played or Observed, DV = Aggression Levels
Sample: 84, 9-11 year olds who gave consent
Procedure: Participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions
C1 - Participants played or observed Missile Command (Aggressive Game)
C2 - Participants played or observed PACMAN (non-aggressive)
C3 - Participants played or observed paper and pen games (No aggression)
After they had played they had to play with a toy each. Either a : dart firer, basketball set, pinball machine, building blocks
Results: Participants in Missile Command spent more time with the aggressive toy (especially girls). The Boys, overall spent more time with the aggressive toy no matter what game. Post experiment questionnaire, MC was voted the most aggressive.
Conclusion: The girls used the aggressive toy more often because they are less exposed to violence. They imitated more of the behaviours in MC than the boys. The video game had no effect on interpersonal aggression.
Criticisms of COOPER AND MACKIE
- Sample biased therefore difficult to make results generalisable
- Lab Experiment -> Lacks ecological validity
- Lacks Construct Validity as aggression levels would’ve been hard to measure
- Uncontrolled EV making it difficult to establish cause and effect
- Only immediate effects of aggression were tested, not the after effects of the experiment
Eysenck’s Biological Theory - 3 Personalities
He identified 3 personality traits: Psychoticism, Neuroticism, Extraversion. But everyone is born with these traits but to a certain degree
Extraversion
A trait measuring how out-going an individual is
Neurotisicism
A trait measuring how anxious an individual is
Psychoticism
A trait measuring how impulsive and aggressive an individual is
Why are Criminals: Psychotic, Extraverts or Neurotics
- Usually extraverts as they need stimulation from the environment and are often thrill seekers
- Usually neurotic as they get stuck in patterns of behaviour to relive high anxiety levels
- Usually psychotic because their characteristics directly link to crime
Parts of the Brain linked to Extraversion
Cerebral Cortex - Eysenck argued that the CC is under-aroused in extraverts. This is why they thrill seek because it is hungry for stimulation. This stimulation is done by committing risky behaviour
Strong Dopamine Reward System - Respond more positively to sex and money to the point where they may acquire it illegally
Parts of the Brain linked with Neuroticism
Autonomic Nervous System - ANS regulates the Limbic System (emotions). ANS becomes over-aroused in Neurotics leading to higher levels of violence
Parts of the Brain linked with Psychoticism
Dopaminergic Neurons - Eysenck argued that Psychoticism is caused by excess dopaminergic neurons which causes more dopamine being produced. Excess dopamine leads to less inhibitions in the brain during synaptic transmission
Criticisms of Eysenck’s Theory
- Ignores individual differences -> Lumped participants together
- There is so many crimes, its unlikely that every criminal has the same personality
- Too deterministic -> Suggest people are born with it so they have no free-will of changing their fate
- Critics say Psychoticism is not useful -> causes criminal behaviour does not define it
- Only focuses on the role of nature and nurture but there is not enough on nurture - lacks construct validity
Research Study: HEAVEN
Wanted to find out whether psychoticism, extroversion and self-esteem were predictors of delinquency
Method: Cross-sectional, Longitudinal Research, RMD
Sample: 282 adolescents from two Catholic schools in New South Wales, Australia
Materials: At times 1 and 2, they were given a booklet with 3 things to complete:
- Set of questions from Eysenck’s questionnaire
- Ten-item Questionnaire on self-esteem
- 4 point rating scale on self reported delinquency 1=Never 4=Often
Procedure:
- All questionnaires checked for internal reliability
- After 2 years 80% of the participants came back
-Students were assured of confidentiality
Results:
- Males were more likely to be involved with delinquency at both times
- Psychoticism showed a positive correlation to delinquency in Time 1 and Time 2
- Psychoticism is the best predictor of delinquency
Conclusion:
- Psychoticism is linked with self-reported delinquency
- Support Eysenck’s idea that psychoticism is the personality trait that directly causes delinquency
Criticisms of HEAVEN
- Culturally Biased -> Ignored other cultures, only looked at Catholicism
- Age Biased -> Average age went from 14 (t1) to 16 (t2)
- 20% of participants dropped out by Time 2 -> Biases the results, affects the overall validity
- Self Report -> Invalid data, Social desirability bias
- Closed questions -> Lacks construct validity
3 Types of Punishment (Explain)
Prison - A place where criminals are confined
Fines - Charge that has been imposed on an individual who has committed a crime
Community Sentences - Time that has to be repaid to the community in the form of unpaid work
3 Ways to reduce Criminal Behaviour (Explain)
Rehabilitation - The process of reintegrating a convicted person back into society, with the aim they will stop the criminal behaviour
Restorative Justice - Gives offenders a choice to be aware of the consequences of their actions
Positive Role Models - Offenders need to align them selves with a positive role model and go through the stages of SLT to internalise pro-social behaviour
